Elon Musk ,Mark Zuckerberg , and six other tech titans have lost $118 billion on paper this year.- That amount exceeds
Warren Buffett 's entire fortune of $114 billion.
Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and six other technology titans have seen a combined $118 billion wiped off their fortunes by the painful downturn in growth
Musk, the CEO of
Meta CEO Zuckerberg has lost $36 billion on paper in 2022, largely due to a 26% slump in the Facebook owner's stock after its disappointing earnings last week. The social-media group's market capitalization tanked by about $240 billion — the largest single-day drop in market value in US corporate history.
Alphabet cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have fared better. The pair have seen less than $2 billion wiped off their respective fortunes, reflecting a modest 1% dip in Alphabet's stock price this year.
Those eight men, along with Buffett and LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, hold the top 10 spots on Bloomberg's rich list. Buffett, the CEO of
Investors have dumped growth stocks this year in anticipation of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates to curb inflation. Tech companies often command aggressive valuations because investors price in sharp increases in their cash flows over time. However, if prices are rising quickly and the returns on cash deposits and bonds increase, the relative value of future returns falls.
Value stocks such as Berkshire have climbed as a result. Buffett's company owns insurers such as Geico and National Indemnity, and holds multibillion-dollar stakes in Bank of America and American Express, which stand to benefit from higher interest rates. It also owns businesses with strong brands such as See's Candies, and has stakes in Apple and Coca-Cola, which can raise prices to offset rising costs without losing customers to rivals.